Padmavati

DETAILS : 

• Author : James B. Apple
  
• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Aditya Prakashan
  
• Publication Date :1 January 2013
  
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
  
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 222 pages
  
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 817742131X
  
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 9788177421316
  
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 600 g 

ABOUT THE BOOK 

Padmavat is an epic ballad composed by 16th century Sufi poet and pir, Malik Muhammad Jaisi. Padmavati, princess of Simhal, falls in love with Ratansen, the King of Chittor. When Alauddin Khilji learns of the extraordinary beauty of the new Queen of Chittor, described to him by a scorned Rajput courtier, he demands to have her for himself. Rejecting Ratansen's counter-offer of a tribute instead, Alauddin Khilji lays siege of the fortress of Chittor and the ensuing battle between the Rajput and the Sultan of Delhi results in Padmavati's great tragedy. The tale ends with the painful remorse that the Sultan feels for the unnecessary destruction caused by his actions and desire.
The allegorical and fictional story is set against the backdrop of the historical event of the siege of Chittor by Alauddin Khilji. Written in Awadhi, in the Persian Nastaliq script, the poem was initially translated to English by Sir George Grierson, a very distinguished British scholar, in collaboration with Pandit Sudhakar Dvivedi, whom he called "my old friend and and colleague" in 1896. But the work remained unfinished due to passing away of Pandit Dvivedi.
A. G. Shirreff, I. C. S., in 1938 decided to complete Sir George Grierson's translation of the Padmavati and took his permission, which came readily: "It was in the hot weather of 1938 that I decided to attempt the task of completing Sir George Grierson's translation of the Padmavati of Malik Mohammad Jaisi. As Commissioner of Fyzabad I had at that time special advantages for the study of the poem. Ramnagar, in the Amethi Estate, where the poet spent the latter part of his life, is in the Sultanpur district of the Fyzabad Division, and Jais itself is within three miles of its border. Jaisi' s language is the dialect still spoken on the spot and his imagery is taken from the scenery and life of the countryside. In spite of the lapse of four hundred years there has been no great change in the language or in the way of life of the people, or in their surroundings, and the poet's name and fame still live in local tradition:"